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Signs of Spring: March 16, 1998 Dancing at Dawn Please report the unique sights and sounds of spring from your area. Male grouse and prairie chickens are now starting their mating displays in many places throughout the continent. These relatives of farm chickens are all large, tasty birds that attract coyotes, foxes, hawks, and owls, so they are very secretive. But some of them have spectacular displays very early in the morning--before it's light enough for most predators to be out. Many of them produce weird or eerie sounds by pumping air. Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido) Listen to prairie chicken drumming on Kansas Prairie Contributed by Ken Highfill's students,Lawrence High School, Lawrence, Kansas Khighfil@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu In the prairie states, prairie chickens are now "booming." They inflate colorful air sacs on the sides of their throat and beneath their "eyebrows" and produce a low sound that is similar to blowing air over an empty soda bottle. Sharp-tailed Grouse, from the prairie provinces and northern prairie states, inflate purple throat airsacs and thump their feet so hard on the ground that they sound like someone is starting up a noisy lawn mower. Sage Grouse, living in sagebrush areas of the plains, have a fascinating yet funny display, inflating huge airsacs on their chests. When going about their normal daily business, all of these birds deflate their colorful air sacs, which stay fairly hidden beneath their feathers so they can be camouflaged to hide from predators. Prairie chickens and some grouse gather on traditional display grounds year after year. These gathering places are called "leks", and in some places people have built wooden blinds where kids or adults can watch without scaring them away. Call your state or province's department of natural resources to find out if any of these species have a display area near you, and how you can arrange to watch. Ruffed Grouse "drum" in forests and woods throughout most of Canada and the northern states, making a deep "thump thump thump" sound that starts slow and speeds up, as if someone were dropping a bowling ball on the forest floor. This sound is made by cupping air in their "wingpits." Have you ever made a sound by cupping air in your armpits? When you hear a drumming grouse, it's possible to sneak up to get a better look, but this works best with just a few people looking at a time. Make sure you're wearing waterproof boots, because forest soil is wet and muddy in spring. Listen hard to figure out what direction the sound is coming from. Move toward it while the grouse is drumming, and between drumming hold still and be very quiet. Look on the ground for fallen logs: the grouse sits very still between drumming activities, and blends in very well. Just before it begins drumming, it sometimes inflates its throat, making the "ruff" feathers stick out, and then pulls its body erect and starts beating its wings. Challenge Question #1 Here's something to think about: Most grouse and prairie chickens produce very deep mating calls. Challenge Question #1 Why do you think these mating calls of prairie chickens and grouse are deep and low, rather than high-pitched? (To respond to this question, please follow the instructions at the end of this report.) Spring News From Journey North Observers 03/14/98 "About a dozen purple martins this AM in the neighborhood." Port Lavaca TX 03/10/98 Mississippi River near RedWing, MN open for barge traffic 2 weeks early . 03/06/98 "I saw my first horseshoe crab on a beach in Jamaica Bay, NY" 03/06/98 Daffadill greens are peeking through the soil in Montrose, PA 03/06/98 "We've got worms!" Greenwood Central School, Greenwood NY 02/25/98 A flock of 35 tundra swans resting in a flooded field in Plainfield, PA. 02/22/98 There were a half dozen robins feeding on one lawn in Auburn, ME 02/22/98 The first Bullock's Oriole was reported near Fort Morgan, CO. This is one of the earliest sightings of a Bullock's Oriole in Colorado. Usually they show up at the end of March to middle of April. How to Respond to Today's Challenge Question 1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-spring@learner.org 2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question # 1 3. In the body of EACH message, answer the question above. The Next Signs of Spring Update Will be Posted on March 30, 1998 Copyright 1998 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.